Stablecoin issuer Tether did not provide a definitive answer on whether or not it would cease support for the Tron network after rival Circle ceased minting its stablecoin on the blockchain on Tuesday.
“Tether tokens are issued on various blockchains, which are simply transport layers for such tokens,” Tether said in a statement to Cointelegraph when asked about Circle’s comment and whether Tether was considering a similar move.
“Tether retains the ability to freeze transactions at each directly supported transport layer to meet its compliance duties. However, Tether actively monitors the security of each of the supported transport layers to ensure the highest standards for our community,” the company said.
Tether (USDT) is the largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $97.7 billion, and Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) follows with $28 billion, according to data from CoinGecko data.
The Tron network hosts more than 51.8 billion USDT — more than half of the nearly 101 billion USDT tokens issued on various blockchains, according to Tether’s transparency report dated February 21.
Additionally, nearly $76.2 million is earmarked to provide short-term liquidity for the token on the Tron network.
Tether’s comments came in response to an announcement from Circle on February 20, with the company revealing that it was immediately ending USDC minting on Tron and would gradually phase out support for the network, saying the decision aligns with “the efforts to ensure that USDC remains trustworthy, transparent and secure.”
Last month, a United Nations report said that “USDT on the Tron blockchain has become a preferred option” for cyber fraud and money launderers in Southeast Asia due to the “ease, anonymity and low costs.” of their transactions.
Tether rejected the report, saying the UN ignored USDT’s traceability and the company’s history of collaborating with law enforcement.
It highlighted that it froze more than $300 million in USDT used in crimes “in recent months,” including $225 million frozen in November 2023 as part of a US investigation into a Southeast Asian human trafficking syndicate.
The ethics watchdog group Campaign for Accountability wrote to the US Congress in November alleging that Tron “has been named in multiple international law enforcement actions involving billions of dollars in transactions from alleged organized crime groups and sanctioned entities.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the Tron Foundation and founder Justin Sun in March 2023, alleging that they offered unregistered securities and engaged in manipulative trading, which Sun denies.
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